A 72-year-old Kailua-Kona clinical psychologist was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for the sexual assault of a minor.
Kona District Judge Kimberly Tsuchiya, filling in for vacationing Third Circuit Chief Judge Robert Kim, sentenced Reuben Lelah to consecutive 10-year prison terms.
Lelah, who had remained free on $40,000 bail for the duration of the proceedings, was then taken into custody to immediately begin serving his sentence.
Lelah pleaded guilty on March 15 to two counts of second-degree sexual assault, a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years.
In return for Lelah’s guilty plea, prosecutors dropped two counts of first-degree sexual assault — a Class A felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison for each count.
Lelah was indicted June 27, 2023, by a Kona grand jury.
According to the indictment, the alleged offenses occurred in Kona between June 1, 2019, and Dec. 31, 2019. The victim — who was born in 2005 and identified only by initials — was at least 14 years old but less than 16 years old.
The allegations are that Lelah engaged in both sexual penetration and sexual contact with the minor.
A civil lawsuit was filed in Kona Circuit Court the same day the indictment was returned by Kona attorney Jeffrey Foster on behalf of a John Doe.
The suit named Lelah and the nonprofit Loving Service Foundation — of which Lelah is president, treasurer and a director, according to the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs — as defendants.
A proposed stipulation for dismissal of that litigation was filed Thursday. If adopted by the court, all civil claims by all parties would be dismissed with prejudice, which means they cannot be refiled.
The document had the electronic signatures of Foster and of Daniel Chen, Lelah’s and Loving Service Foundation’s Honolulu-based civil attorney, but there was no signature by the judge under the “approved and so ordered line,” which means that, for now, the suit remains active.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff was a minor and under the care and custody of Lelah from June 2019 to January 2020 and “received certain psychology treatment and counseling services from Lelah through LSF.”
The suit claimed Lelah engaged in “sexual assault and battery” and sought unspecified monetary damages, court costs and attorneys’ fees.
The suit alleged Lelah “used his position of authority, trust and control as a psychologist to engage in the unpermitted, harmful and offensive sexual contact upon plaintiff when plaintiff was a minor.”
The litigation also asserted that Loving Service Foundation and Lelah “worked on minor children and adolescents, and targeted the most vulnerable children who sought help for emotional and and psychological issues.”
According to the complaint, Lelah “utilized information learned through therapy sessions with plaintiff to convince plaintiff’s parents to allow plaintiff to live at the residence with Lelah.”
The suit also alleged that Loving Service Foundation “knew or should have known that Lelah was unfit to work with children” and “knew or should have known that Lelah was a danger to children.”
According to the Loving Service Foundation’s website, which has since taken offline, its mission was “to provide psychological treatment to seriously ill children and adolescents using traditional and multi-disciplinary treatments.”
“We specialize in treating children and teens who are dying or who have chronic illness,” the website stated.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
